Soup for the Soul

Lately, life has been a lot like this with some even more precipitous valleys:

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I am not quite ready to share it all here, but getting back into my kitchen this evening to make dinner has really helped things feel a bit more normal.

Tonight's dish was Mexican White Bean Soup, which I chose for three reasons.  The first reason was I found that I had all of the ingredients (minus the celery) on hand.  The second reason was that I remembered it being pretty good.  The third and most depressing reason was that it's still wintery outside and even with a sweater on, I've been chilly all day.  Bah!

Thankfully, the soup did not disappoint.  It only took about 45 minutes for the beans to become tender (not the 60 to 90 minutes listed in the recipe) and was nice and warm both in temperature and spice.  The salsa I used was labeled "hot" and worked well for my taste.  I topped my soup with some plain Greek yogurt and made a quick spinach and cheese quesadilla for dipping.

There's plenty of leftover soup for lunch this week, which I look forward to eating outside in the sun.  Please don't let me down!

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Lucky 7's

I've been trying to think of a way to recap the last month or so in a nice, succinct manner.  In honor of spending it with Keizo and his favorite number, I present to you the Top 7 Things from February.

1. Mangoes were on sale the week before Keizo arrived.  I bought one and then forgot about it on the counter for a while.  It was a little on the soft side when I finally remembered it and we cut it up to put on top of our pancakes, but in reality it was perfect.  Super sweet, not the least bit crunchy and really, really good on pancakes with a bit of Greek yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup.  More mangoes have made their way into my shopping cart since, and I enjoyed the same breakfast again this morning.

2.  Keizo made Chicken & Dumplings all by himself one evening while I got in a rare workout.  I think he enjoyed this version more than I did, but any meal I don't have to cook is a treat!

3.  One of our jaunts outside of Charlottesville was another trip to Richmond.  This year we went to the Science Museum of Virginia, and had a great time.  Most of the museum is hands on, so we spent the day racing bowling balls, testing our flexibility and tight-rope walking abilities and watched trained rats play basketball.  We grabbed lunch across the street from the museum at a tiny Jamaican place called the Jerk Pit, which was delicious.  I really enjoyed my chicken sandwich and side of plantains, while Keizo got the stewed chicken special and a side of ribs.

After the Science Museum, we braved the traffic in Short Pump to do some shopping and eat dinner, overall an overwhelming experience I feel no need to repeat.  I did get a knife sharpener (so exciting, I know!) and after a long wait we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  The cheesecake we brought home was both dessert and half of breakfast the next day.

4.  Planning romantic things for Valentine's Day is not my forte.  Like most events these days, Valentine's Day caught me a bit off guard---thankfully Cappellino's Crazy Cakes had plenty of themed cupcakes left when I finished work, so I could still "surprise" Keizo.  From the previous sentences, it should be pretty obvious that we stayed in, but we were both quite content in our sweatpants and certainly didn't miss the crowded restaurant atmosphere.  The day started with Keizo making pancakes for breakfast; he had a bottle of wine and some snacks waiting for me when I got home; we worked together to make one of his favorite dishes (Japanese curry) and demolished all four of the cupcakes I brought home.  

5. It's no secret that Keizo and I eat really well when we are together.  While it wasn't easy to narrow down all of our meals to the few listed here, there was no doubt in my mind that our "homemade" pizza would make the cut.  We bought two tubes of refrigerated pizza crust to make it easy and created two different masterpieces.  The one on the top left had caramelized onions, apples, pepperoni and a combination of brie and cheddar cheese; the one on the right was a more classic combo of pesto, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and Italian seasoning.  Both were tasty, but there was something really irresistible about the classic combination.  It's a small miracle there were any leftovers for me to take for lunch!

6. Keizo was here to experience the biggest snowfall of my 2.5 years in Charlottesville.   I think we got about 18 inches, and I had the day off of work.  We played in the snow with my housemate, sledding and and sculpting the snow beast below. 

7.  Last but not least, it is long past time for me to share one of my guilty pleasures of late.  A friend introduced me to this dangerously good Brownie in a Mug recipe in December.  I have lost count of how many times I have made it since then, but let's just say I don't need to look at the recipe anymore.  Topped with a generous scoop of ice cream it made a lovely dessert for two.

Describing seven things from last month was not nearly as quick as I thought it would be, but when I signed in to start writing this post, 2BB had 7,700 page views.  Clearly, this post was meant to be ;-)

A BIG thank you for reading!  Keizo may pay more attention to the number of pageviews this blog gets than I do, but 7,700 is certainly more than I ever expected.